


escalate

by _helios (neocitz)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Gratuitous Platonic Relationships, M/M, Minor Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, OT21 (NCT), Oblivious Jung Jaehyun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 21:54:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18039770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neocitz/pseuds/_helios
Summary: It's not that Jaehyun can't say no to Johnny. He just never wants to.Johnny was supposed to just be a one night stand, but then Donghyuck adopts him as an older brother. Jaehyun could hardly handle how hot Johnny was as a stranger, it only gets worse when Johnny becomes a friend.





	escalate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lovelyday86](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelyday86/gifts).



> For those who remember, I tweeted once that I'd write Jaehyun smut if that tweet got 100 retweets.
> 
> Should have said 200 retweets, smh. 
> 
> (I'm joking. I've really enjoyed the start of this, and I'm really excited to work on it a bit more. I'm also very nervous because it's territory I've never explored before, please be kind.)

The first time Jaehyun doesn’t say no to Johnny is the first night they meet.

It’s Doyoung’s birthday, and they’re pretending that they’re celebrating in a bar. It’s the sort of bar that Jaehyun hates, edging too close into being a club. The music is more bass and beat, and Jaehyun has to squeeze through the crowd of awkwardly bobbing university students to find anyone he knows.

Taeyong and Doyoung are, as predicted, curled up in a booth with a jug of cider between them. Taeyong’s eyes are too-bright, betraying that he’s probably about to be cut off by a disgruntled Donghyuck, and his smile grows when he spots Jaehyun. Jaehyun can’t hear anything over the music, but he slides into the seat next to where Sicheng and Donghyuck are bent over Donghyuck’s phone.

“You’re _late_ ,” Donghyuck shouts, once Jaehyun’s half-hugged Doyoung (and Taeyong) in greeting. “To your own birthday party!”

“I told you, I don’t want this to be about me. Tonight’s for Doyoung.”

It earns him a roll of Donghyuck’s eyes, and Jaehyun can’t help but wonder when the kid started disrespecting him like this.

Doyoung and Jaehyun’s birthdays are close enough that they’d spent most of their teenaged years combining their celebration into one day. As they’ve grown older, both men have fallen out of love with the idea of celebrating a birthday and are more willing to spend the actual day at home with a bottle of beer and some half-decent food.

It’s actually because of Donghyuck that they’re even doing this. Doyoung’s disguised it as a birthday celebration, but everyone knows it’s because Donghyuck needs to get up and away from his friends and the heartbreak that cracks at him. He seems to appreciate it though, leans into Sicheng, sips at his own cider as he talks to an already wasted Taeyong and pretends this night isn’t for him.

“Just go get a drink, and join in on the happy occasion.” Donghyuck shoves Jaehyun’s shoulder lightly, pushing him out of the booth and into the hellscape that is the space between the booth and the bar.

There are about five bartenders squeezed behind the counter, moving back and forth between the crowd of people filling their pockets. Most of the people who drink at this place do it to get drunk, which makes Jaehyun loathe this bar more. He’s looking forward to the point in the night where Taeyong drunkenly insists they all go to get dumplings, because that’s usually when Jaehyun starts to have a good time.

Jaehyun spends about twenty seconds trying to flag down a bartender before giving up. Doyoung would argue that it’s barely trying, but Jaehyun’s not here to _try_. He’s here to cheer up his friend and eat lousy dumplings at two in the morning.

“They’re dicks here,” a voice murmurs in his ear.

Jaehyun jumps and turns to see a man, leaning half on the counter. He looks down at            Jaehyun, and that makes him _tall_ , and his brow is dropped into a slight frown as he looks across the bar. It’s a good look on him, in an asshole way, and Jaehyun can’t help letting out a cough of a laugh.

“I don’t think I’m going to get their attention anytime soon, not like this.” Jaehyun gestures to the people crowded around them, at the barely-eighteen-year-old kids crowded together with a promise of irresponsible spending and the older groups with the taste for the top shelf. All better prey than someone who just wants a single bottle of beer.

The man looks down at Jaehyun, and this time his face transforms from the slight glare into a smile that softens the lines of his face. It’s enough to be breathtaking, and Jaehyun feels his own smile growing on his face even though he can’t hold this man’s gaze.

“How about this?” the man offers. “If I manage to get their attention, I’ll buy you a drink.”

Jaehyun laughs, but he doesn’t say no.

 

 

Jaehyun doesn’t end up getting dumplings.

“ _Fuck_.”

His name is Johnny, and his hands are big, _so big_ , where they’re curled around Jaehyun’s thighs. Jaehyun hopes that he’ll have bruises tomorrow, distantly, but all he can focus on is Johnny between his legs, grinning up at him.

He hasn’t even touched Jaehyun yet, not properly.

Johnny presses his lips against the inside of Jaehyun’s thigh, soft compared to the grip holding Jaehyun in place. Jaehyun knows that Johnny is going to be trouble in the way he smirks against his skin. When Johnny bites, it makes Jaehyun choke out a gasp.

“You like that,” Johnny notes, sounding every bit the smug asshole that he looked when he first met Jaehyun in the bar. “I thought you might.”

Jaehyun can’t help the shudder that works through his body, as Johnny skates his lips across the sensitive skin of his inner thigh. He’s getting closer, closer to where Jaehyun desperately wants him to touch, featherlight and unafraid.

He stops at the crease of Jaehyun’s hip.

“Johnny.” Jaehyun doesn’t whine. Except he does because Johnny’s been teasing him since he handed Jaehyun his beer and told him to enjoy, since he followed Jaehyun back to his table with a smirk, since he talked to Jaehyun’s friends while he traced along Jaehyun’s inseam.

He’s got Jaehyun on his bed, nothing but silence and the two of them in the dark of the room and he’s still teasing Jaehyun.

“What do you want from me, Jaehyun?” Johnny asks, his voice so low. He’s pretending to be kind, with the wicked glint in his eyes and sharp corners of his smile. “I’ll do anything you want, you just have to ask. Nicely.”

Jaehyun tips his head back, gasping as Johnny runs his palms across the skin of his inner thigh, the tips of his nails dragging like a quiet afterthought. He knows, _knows_ , that Johnny’s worked out how sensitive he is there, that Johnny’s playing with it to watch Jaehyun’s thighs shake and his cock twitch.

“I—” Jaehyun’s breath stutters in his throat. “I wanna _come_. I want you to make me come. Don’t care how.”

“You don’t care how?” Johnny hums, and his hand is so, _so_ close to Jaehyun’s cock. Jaehyun doesn’t whine, or at least tries not to. “We both know that’s a lie, Jaehyun. What do you want?”

“I want you to touch me.”

Johnny’s hand wraps around Jaehyun’s cock, pulling in a smooth, soft movement and it’s the friction that Jaehyun had wanted so, so desperately. He doesn’t even realise he’s arching into it, until Johnny’s pressing his hips back down to the bed with a grin.

“Beautiful,” Johnny comments, quietly, as he reaches for the bottle of lube that Jaehyun keeps on his bedside table. “I knew you’d be pretty, when I saw you in the bar. I saw you and I thought you’d look so good when you come.”

“I thought you looked like an asshole,” Jaehyun says, and he can’t help reaching down, guiding Johnny up so that their faces are level. Johnny’s hand is slick, still moving between them, twisting around Jaehyun’s cock so perfectly, despite Jaehyun’s words. “You were so fucking hot, with your smirk.”

“Are you into that kinda thing then?” Johnny asks. “Should I be a little meaner, then?” Johnny tightens his grip, just slightly and Jaehyun chokes out another gasp, because Johnny is _good_ with his hands.

Jaehyun doesn’t answer. He can’t help reaching up, dragging Johnny down into a kiss. It’s already familiar, the feeling of Johnny’s lips against his, the way Johnny reaches up with his free hand to cup his jaw. He tilts his own head back and slides his hands against the firm wall of Johnny’s abs, relishing in them, before he reaches for Johnny’s cock.

Johnny feels thick and heavy in his hand, Jaehyun loves the weight of it. He doesn’t bother trying to tease, trying to be subtle like Johnny, and it earns him a deep groan within seconds. Johnny lets a _fuck that’s good_ into the space between them, and Jaehyun can’t help but think about how hot the man over him is.

Jaehyun comes first, with something that’s almost like a laugh, and he can’t help smiling dopily up at Johnny. He only needs to pump at Johnny’s cock a few more times until Johnny’s hips stutter and he’s spilling onto Jaehyun’s stomach.

“Wow,” Jaehyun breathes, because when he invited Johnny back to his apartment, he didn’t think that he was going to get jerked off like a teenager. He didn’t think it was going to be that good.

“More where that came from,” Johnny grins, and he’s the _good_ kind of hook-up because he wanders into Jaehyun’s en suite and comes back with a towel to wipe the come from their skin. Jaehyun doesn’t even feel like he can move, just yet. “If you’re okay with me staying a bit longer.”

Jaehyun doesn’t say no.

Jaehyun wakes up slowly, and he wakes up alone.

The sheets beside him are cold, and Jaehyun allows himself a moment to feel disappointed. Because Johnny was hot and Johnny was funny, but he’s old and experienced enough to know that a hook-up is sometimes only that.

He sits up with a groan, he’s not hungover but he has a headache and a sour taste in his mouth.

A quick check of his phone shows that he has too many text messages to deal with when he’s this tired, and he places it face down on his bed before he wanders out of his bedroom and down the main corridor of his apartment before stopping because.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“I didn’t know who else to come to,” Donghyuck says, miserably. His eyes are puffy, a little rimmed with red, and he looks so small where he’s sitting on Jaehyun’s couch. He’s been crying, again. “I didn’t know you had company, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay kiddo, I don’t mind and I’m sure Jaehyun doesn’t either.”

Johnny rubs his back, half hugging Donghyuck into him as the two of them sit on the couch. He’s wearing a pair of Jaehyun’s trackpants, a little too short at the ankle, and his hair has lost some of the stiff gel that swooped it up and away from his forehead the night before. He looks softer, and far kinder, as he lets Donghyuck lean into his shoulder.

“You know that I’m never going to be mad at you,” Jaehyun says, moving to sit on the other side of Donghyuck. He thinks back to the number of texts that was on his phone, blinking at him despite the early hour. “Does your brother know where you are?”

Donghyuck shakes his head. Jaehyun’s going to have to text Doyoung back, before he freaks out and sends a search party after his younger brother.

“I didn’t want him to see me like this,” Donghyuck says, and he hiccups again. It’s Donghyuck’s sign that he’s about to burst into tears, has been since he was five years old. Jaehyun reaches for the tissue box that he keeps on the side table and hands it to Donghyuck so the younger boy can hide behind it. “He worries so much, and he and Taeyong haven’t had any time together recently and I didn’t want to interrupt but instead I interrupted you and—”

“Donghyuck,” Jaehyun says, “it’s fine.”

Johnny smooths a hand through Donghyuck’s hair, and the boy lets out a small sob. Jaehyun always forgets, a little bit, that Donghyuck is so much younger than him because he’s so used to the bright and loud and mature boy that gelled with their friendship group despite being Doyoung’s younger brother.

“Why don’t you go lie down in the guest room,” Jaehyun suggests, “you look like you haven’t slept. I’ll be here when you wake up, and I’ll call your brother as well. To let him know you’re safe.”

Donghyuck nods, and between Johnny and Jaehyun they get him tucked into bed. Jaehyun swallows, as he lowers the blinds, looking at Donghyuck’s small form curled up in the centre of the bed. He doesn’t know how anyone would be able to cope with breaking Donghyuck’s heart, and yet they did.

“Sorry,” Johnny says, when the bedroom door is closed behind him. “I woke up to get breakfast, and I found him sitting outside your front door. I didn’t know what to do, so I brought him inside and attempted to make coffee.”

“Thank you.” Jaehyun doesn’t even realise how much he appreciates it until he’s looking at Johnny with his soft hair and his careful worried gaze. “Not many people would look out for a stranger like that.”

“He’s the same age as my brother, I wouldn’t want Mark out here,” Johnny shrugs as he says it. Jaehyun likes him better like this, softer and sweeter and caring. But his best friend’s little brother is in his guest bedroom, and he has more important things to worry about than the hot guy standing in his living room.

They stand there long enough that the silence gets awkward. The promises of the night before have long since faded and sobered, but Jaehyun doesn’t care, and Johnny seems to be able to recognise that.

“I should go,” Johnny says, and Jaehyun nods. “Can I get your number?”

Jaehyun nods, and he doesn’t say no.

Jaehyun doesn’t expect to ever see Johnny again, expects to write him off as a good (almost) lay who was kind to Donghyuck. Except a week later he gets a text from Sicheng saying that he needs backup at a coffee shop near the university, and walks in to find Johnny trying to talk Renjun and Ten down from fighting Jaemin.

“Ten, you can’t fight a kid,” Johnny is saying, “even if you’re smaller than them.”

“Then _I’ll_ do it,” Renjun hisses. “Fuckwit deserves a punch in the face.”

Donghyuck hiccups through a sob, from where he’s curled up into Sicheng’s side. It must be bad, for Sicheng to be combing his fingers through Donghyuck’s hair without complaint, and Jaehyun ignores the fact that the very hot guy that he took home is sitting there. He has more important things to worry about.

The thing is this: Sicheng is Jaehyun’s best friend, and Renjun is Sicheng’s boyfriend.  Donghyuck is practically Jaehyun’s little brother, and Renjun is Donghyuck’s best friend. In theory, Jaehyun knows that Renjun is a good boyfriend, a good best friend and a good person.

This does not make Jaehyun any less intimidated by Renjun.

“Renjun, you shouldn’t go around punching people either,” Johnny says, and when he looks up and sees Jaehyun he only looks surprised for a second. “Even if Jaemin deserves it.”

Donghyuck lets out a miserable little hiccup.

“I don’t think anyone should be fighting anyone,” Jaehyun says, slipping into the spare seat next to Ten at the end of the table. He tries not to falter under the combined glares of Ten and Renjun, wishing that Sicheng never thought to introduce the pair. “I’m sure Donghyuck doesn’t want you guys to fight Jaemin, _or Jeno.”_

“Who said anything about fighting Jeno?” Ten sniffs, and it earns him a sharp elbow into the ribs from Johnny.

“I just want to move on, and forget,” Donghyuck says, and Johnny leans over to rubs his shoulder. Donghyuck shudders, and Jaehyun wishes that he wasn’t so heartbroken, wasn’t so down, was the bright boy that always chased after Jaehyun with a smile. “Any of you know any nice boys?”

“I’m not sure that’s what you need, at the moment,” Johnny says, so kind and sweet. Jaehyun can’t help looking at him, at the way Johnny’s gaze softens and at the way his hair falls in his eyes. He looks back at Donghyuck, at the resigned little smile on his face. “I think you and Renjun should go out, and have a good time without Jaemin and … Jeno,” he gets a small nod from Ten, “because they’re not worth you getting this sad over. I’ve known you a week and I know that you’re far better than two boys that make you cry.”

If Jaehyun were the jealous sort, he would be upset that Donghyuck got to hear from Johnny and he didn’t. But with Johnny sitting across from him, with Donghyuck looking more determined and less sad for the first time in two weeks, Jaehyun can only be grateful.

“Come on,” Ten says, “let’s go wash your face.”

Renjun and Ten slip out of the seats, heading into the bathroom with Donghyuck in tow and Jaehyun lets out a sigh as he looks at Sicheng and Johnny. He doesn’t even know how they know each other, how Johnny came to join the small circle of friends that sat at the table. He doesn’t care, because he’s so glad in that moment.

“Hi,” Johnny says, finally and he smiles at Jaehyun. “I didn’t know that you were going to be here.”

“Sicheng called me, but I don’t think you needed me in the end,” Jaehyun nudges Sicheng, who lets out his bright, awkward laugh.

“I needed someone strong to hold Ten back, in case he decided to go hunt Jaemin down.” Sicheng takes a sip of his tea. “I didn’t know that Johnny was going to be here.”

“Speaking of, how do you guys know each other?” Because Johnny is _hot_ , and Jaehyun’s sure that he would have recognised Johnny before the bar. Hell, if Jaehyun had known that they knew each other before the bar he might have been a little less desperate and a little more suave.

Johnny, Jaehyun has quickly realised, is far more than simple hook-up material.

“We don’t,” Johnny says, “I’m a friend of Ten’s. I didn’t even know that he knew you guys, until he dragged me here today to check on Donghyuck. I was supposed to just drop him off but I thought I’d stay around, make sure he was okay.”

“Wait,” Sicheng says, voice that heavy, thick and ominous tone that always means trouble for Jaehyun. “How do _you guys_ know each other?”

“Remember the guy from the bar?”

“The one with the thighs? You wanted to ride them until you cried?” Sicheng freezes. “ _Oh_.”

Johnny lets out a coughing laugh, and when Jaehyun dares to look at him, Johnny’s got a smirk on his face. Jaehyun hates that he likes it.

The thing is that Johnny and Donghyuck become friends after that.

It’s good for Donghyuck, because Johnny’s friends become Donghyuck’s friends and his circle extends to more than the two friends who broke his heart, and the friend who wants to fight them. Donghyuck seems to take great pleasure in annoying Johnny’s younger brother, Mark, and Jungwoo is the kind of affectionate that Donghyuck needs.

Doyoung gets along very well with Johnny’s best friend Taeil, and it takes Yuta all of a few minutes to break down Taeyong’s awkward walls. It’s nice, and loud, and their friendship circle grows in an instant. Jaehyun doesn’t mind the new people he has in his life, it’s just that the constant exposure to one Johnathan Seo is _dangerous_.

Jaehyun thought that Johnny looked good, dressed up for a bar with a smirk on his face. But that has nothing on Johnny dressed down, in a large jumper and ripped jeans, settling onto the couch for movie night.

“Stop staring at him,” Doyoung hisses in Jaehyun’s ear, Taeyong curled up and half asleep in his lap. “You’re an embarrassment through and through.”

“He’s so hot though,” Jaehyun whispers, even though he shouldn’t be thinking about it because Johnny’s moved from potential hook-up to friend territory without Jaehyun even trying. “No-one should look that good in ripped skinny jeans. It isn’t fair, I thought this was supposed to be a casual thing!”

Jaehyun feels severely underdressed compared to Johnny, in his sweatpants and a t-shirt that Taeyong’s tried to throw out at least twice because it, quote, _looks like it got in a fight and lost_. He doesn’t look cute, and he doesn’t even think Johnny’s noticed all that much.

“It is a casual thing, Yuta’s even wearing his gym clothes,” Doyoung points to where Yuta has his arms thrown across the arm of a chair, asking Sicheng about the film. “Stop whining and pay attention to the fucking film.”

“I’m going to get another beer,” Jaehyun says instead, because he needs to get out and away for a moment. He stands up and tries not to fall on Taeil and Mark, as he steps around them. “Anyone want anything?”

There’s a general muttering that spreads through the room, which Jaehyun takes as a no, and he makes his way down the corridor into the more brightly lit kitchen. He can hear someone else getting up behind him, but he doesn’t bother looking back as he pulls out a beer from the bottom of the fridge. Jaehyun likes people, likes new people, but he needs to breathe in the space away from the crowd that he calls his friends.

“Are you okay?”

Johnny’s voice is low and Jaehyun tries not to make it too obvious that he’s surprised by the older man’s voice. He takes a sip of the beer, before turning around to look at Johnny, it’s just enough time to settle the racing of his heart.

“I’m fine,” he says. “Just a little bit tired, I had work in the morning.”

“It’s more than that,” Johnny says and he’s walking over to where Jaehyun stands. He looks at Jaehyun through soft eyes, cups Jaehyun’s jaw to tip his head back and Jaehyun hates that he feels helpless in this moment. “You seem a little on edge.”

“Stressed,” Jaehyun says with a shrug, because he is. “Just trying to think.”

Johnny lets out a hum, and steps behind Jaehyun so smoothly that Jaehyun doesn’t have longer than a moment to process it before Johnny’s thumbs are digging right into the top of his spine and Jaehyun almost falls forward against the counter in relief, a groan working out of his throat.

It’s just that Jaehyun didn’t realise how much stress he was carrying there, until Johnny is grounding him in Doyoung’s kitchen. He slides the beer bottle onto the counter, bracing himself against it as Johnny rubs firm circles into the tightest points of his shoulders.

“Breathe,” Johnny instructs. He leans in, as he presses the taut muscles of Jaehyun’s shoulders, and Jaehyun can only gasp when Johnny’s lips skate across the length of his neck.


End file.
